


Postpartum Care

by allonym



Series: Doctor Who Series 6 Ficlets [5]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Medical Procedures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 01:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17519615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allonym/pseuds/allonym
Summary: It was a good thing he was a nurse.  *Spoilers* forA Good Man Goes to War.





	Postpartum Care

**Author's Note:**

> This was a bit depressing to write and probably will be to read, but you know that Rory was there to pick up the pieces for Amy after the Doctor flitted off. There's some post-partum medical stuff that might bother some readers.
> 
> * * *

It was a good thing he was a nurse. Amy couldn’t go to the health clinic. The most cursory exam would show that she’d recently delivered a full term baby. There would've been questions. Questions without answers. (Questions the Doctor damn well better answer, and soon.)  
  
So when they returned to Leadworth, it was Rory who took charge of Amy’s postpartum care. At least the monsters who’d taken her hadn’t stinted on her medical treatment. There were no signs of tearing from delivery, and her cervix was healing. Discharge was normal, with no indications of infection, and it should taper off soon.  
  
Her breasts, however, were painfully engorged. And when he’d offered to make a cabbage compress, to help her milk dry up, Amy had lost it. Her fear and grief and anger all came boiling out and she threw herself at him, crying and screaming. He held her as she beat at him, trying to soak up some of her pain. He might as well try to soak up the ocean with a flannel. Finally she collapsed, sobbing, and he carried her to bed and brought her some cold compresses for her aching breasts.  
  
Then, against his better judgment, he commandeered a small breast pump from the hospital, so that Amy could keep her milk supply going, until the Doctor returned. Or until she was ready to face the fact that it might be years until they saw the Doctor again, and even then, Rory knew it wouldn’t be with an infant in his arms.  
  
Before they’d left Demon’s Run, Rory had taken River Song aside. His daughter, he supposed, although he still couldn’t connect her with the tiny baby he had held for a heartbreakingly brief time. He knew she wouldn’t tell him much, so he came at it sideways.  
  
“So, I need to ask you something. . .” he began.  
  
She gave him an overly cheerful smile. “Of course.”  
  
“Should we take the Doctor’s cot with us? We don’t really have room to store it, in our flat, but if we’re going to be needing it. . . .”  
  
Her smile vanished, and the lonely grief in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. It also made him feel like her father after all. He pulled her into a hug.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he said, holding her tight. “I would’ve done anything, you know, to bring you home safely. I still would, if there’s any way. To hell with the universe, or the space-time continuum, or whatever it is that keeps the Doctor from just fixing this.”  
  
She let out a shuddering laugh, and lifted her head to smile at him. Her eyes were damp, but her smile was more genuine, now. “Thank you. I’m afraid it’s impossible, but really, thank you.”  
  
He cupped her face in his hand. “If you’re sure?” At her nod, he continued. “Well then, let’s get Amy home.”  
  
Now that he was home, he was doing what he did best. Looking after Amy. But he was glad she was sleeping now, so he could be alone with his thoughts. Who was taking care of his infant daughter? What will she (did she) go through to before she became the gun-toting Doctor-loving archeologist? He thought of that tiny scrap of humanity in the hands of the Doctor’s enemies and fought down the feelings of despair. He didn’t think the Doctor could really fix things this time.  
  
He was a crying Englishman without a baby. Definitely not cool.  


* * *


End file.
